Best Steering of 2016: Toyota 86

Steering’s quite personal. Unless you drive a Tesla Model S it’s the only thing you control full time in the driver’s seat.

Only slightly tweaked this year, the system in the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ remains a standout. You still know exactly where the front wheels point and no variable rack technology muddies its speed or weight. Both these aspects respond accordingly to any change in grip, giving it Porsche levels of feedback and making it a perfect partner to the car’s oversteer-loving nature. The best thing, perhaps, is you only need $29,900 to experience it. It truly is the best steering around.

Best Chassis Electronics of 2016: Porsche Stability Management

Porsche’s ESP is among the best in the world – even Luffy tends to leave it on during his PCOTY hot laps because unless you’ve made a serious mistake, it doesn’t really intrude. However, if you want to feel the car move around a little your only option is still to turn the ESP off altogether.

That was the case until the 991.2 911 and 718 Boxster/Cayman, in which Porsche introduced an excellent ‘ESP Sport’ setting. The latitude it allows means you still have to drive and control the car, yet it’ll almost imperceptibly steady the ship if it feels your ambition is outweighing your ability. More fun with less risk is a win in our books.

Honourable mention: HSV Electronic Stability Control

Lenient enough to allow some classic rear-driven fun but will step in if you overcook it, HSV’s chassis electronics are some of the best in the performance car business.